ARBUTHNOT (Alexander), principal of the university of Aberdeen in the reign of James VI. of Scotland, was born in the year 1538. He studied first at Aberdeen; and was afterwards sent over to France, where, under the famous Cujacius, he applied himself to the study of the civil law. In the year 1563, he returned to Scotland, and took orders. Whether he was ordained by a bishop, or by presbyters, is a matter of uncertainty. In 1568, he was appointed minister of Arbuthnot and Logy-Buchan; and in the following year, Mr Alexander Anderson being deprived, our author was made principal of the king's college at Aberdeen, in his room. In the general assembly which met at Edinburgh in the years 1573 and 1577, he was chosen moderator; and to the end of his life was an active supporter of the reformed religion. He died in 1583, in the 45th year of his age; and was buried in the college church of Aberdeen. We are told in the Biographia, that he was eminent as a poet, a philosopher, a mathematician, a lawyer, a divine, and a physician. He wrote, Orationes de origine & dignitate juris, printed Edinb. 1572, 4to. His contemporary, Thomas Maitland, wrote a copy of Latin verses on the publication of this book: they are printed in the Delic. Poetar. Scot. He published Buchanan's history of Scotland in the year 1582.